More shooting in downtown Abilene not good for business

The story always is more interesting, or scary, when you're closer to it.

Last week, we were too close to a story.

As were others.

It wasn't even 6 p.m. when shots were fired — six shots — downtown. According to police, one vehicle was chasing another. The chasers were doing the shooting.

We can account for two shots, one flattening the tire of a parked vehicle and the other putting a hole in a window at the Reporter-News.

The other four? We don't know.

Fortunately, no one was struck. And though downtown clears out at 5:01 p.m. most days, there were folks out and about.

A Reporter-News employee on the way to her car had just walked past the window that was struck. Not minutes before — but seconds. She heard the shot but who would think it was a gunshot? Backfire, maybe. Her attention was diverted to the chase entering Cypress Street from the alley between The Grace Museum and Cypress Street Station.

There were diners at the restaurant, where tables are set up on the sidewalk when the weather turns nice. There were people at Everman Park — it's that picture-taking time of year.

On other nights, folks are walking, sometimes to and from Monks Coffee House.

This was in daylight, not 3 a.m.

Again, no one was hurt in the areas the vehicles traversed.

Police are investigating and taking this incident seriously, which it should be.

In October, there was gunfire reported at Civic Plaza Hotel, which is across the street from the new Adamson-Spalding Sculpture Garden. Granted, that was in the early morning hours when no one likely would be admiring the sculpture of Stuart Little in a canoe.

Still, it's across from the Convention Center and up the street from businesses that now could stay open until 2 a.m.

We are focused on taking the next steps in downtown development that build on what was started more than 30 years ago. That task is challenging enough, particularly landing a convention hotel, without incidences of violence.

Downtown Abilene, let's face it, still gets quiet after most workdays and weekends. Perhaps Tuesday's gunfire doesn't worry you, but it should. It's likely that what happened last week was not planned for a time when few people would be out.

As we move forward in promoting downtown, we're sure security will be a concern.

As a downtown business, we want our employees to be able to exit and enter the building safely at all hours.

On Tuesday, a stray bullet striking a window four feet from the main entrance to our offices was too close for comfort.